Beer Styles: What Do Beer Scientists Evaluate?

Written by Charlie Papazian

From Examiner.com You can follow this series there, but please check out other sources, like bjcp.org for taste evaluations, defects and judging standards. This should provide a more complete picture.

(Prof. GA- Is it possible the Examiner missed printing part of this article? Some spaces were blank and descriptions incomplete or somewhat askew. But the information is still interesting.)

Several quantitative variables differentiate one beer from another helping to define beer styles.

During the 1980s and early 90s analytical variables measured by Professor Anton Piendl of the Institut für Bräuerei-Technologie und Mickrobiologie der Technischen Universität München at Weihenstephan established a baseline for identifying beer style characters. More than 500 different beers were analyzed. The data helped American Homebrewers Association and Brewers Association begin its work more than 25 years ago to help develop its current guidelines for beer types. Professor Piendl’s work was published over a 13 years period in the 1980s and 1990s in the German brewing journal Brauindustrie. Here is a list of the values he measured.

Original Gravity (Balling) – measures the density and sugar content of unfermented beer

Alcohol – (This space left blank by the writer. “ABV” is the usual term used. Although not that accurate, it can be assessed by final gravity, or FG. A few brewer use “proof” but that term really should be used for distilled beverages- Prof. GA)